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http://www.archive.org/details/statementoftheor01unit 



A STATEMENT 



Theory of E 



EORY OF EDUCATION 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



AS APTROVED 1!V 



MANY LEADING EDUCATORS 



187 



WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1874. 



LETTER 



COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION. 



LETTER. 



Department of the Interior, 

Bureau of Educa'i ion, 
Washington, D. C, December 15, 1874. 

Sir: a meeting of State-superintendents and others was held in 
Washington, November 13, 1872, to make preHminary arrangements 
for the representation at Vienna of the condition of education in the 
United States. A full report of this meeting will be found in the 
Circular of Information of this Bureau for November, 1872, pages 
29-40. 

At this meeting, it was resolved (see page 36 of the circular above 
referred to) " that we consider it exceedingly desirable that there 
should be a brief statement, embodying clearly the idea of the rela- 
tion of the American free school to the American Commonwealth ; 
and we recommend to the Commissioner of Education that such a 
statement shall be prepared as can be signed generally by the educa- 
tors of the country as a declaration of their sentiments." 

The preparation of this statement was intrusted to Hon. Duane 
Doty, superintendent of city-schools, Detroit, Mich. In conjunction 
with Hon. W. T. Harris, superintendent of city -schools, Saint Louis, 
Mo., he prepared a statement, which was subsequently submitted 
to the several leading educators whose names are hereto affixed in 
witness of their approval of the statement. 

Alihough this was not prepared and agreed upon in time to be 
used at Vienna, yet, in view of the constant demands made upon this 
Bureau, especially by foreign investigators, for a statement of the 
school-system m this country; and in view of the natural tendency of 
such foreigners to fall into the error of supposing that there is a 
national system of education under control of the General Govern- 
ment of the United States; and, moreover, in consideration of the 
dangers that have been and are threatening the welfare of the free 
public-school-systems of many of the States, a clear statement of such 
fundamental principles as all American educators can agree upon 
seems most timely, as furnishing to the friends of education every- 
where a ready means of refuting the false assertions of those \\ho 
oppose the establishment and prosperity of the schools in their 
several localities. 



6 

The free public education of the children of the United States 
depends everywhere upon the action taken by the several States 
and by the citizens of those States in their several localities. The 
existence of a republic, unless all its citizens are educated, is an ad- 
mitted impossibility. 'J he school-systems of many States have suffered 
from the results of the war ; and their speedy and healthy advance- 
ment to the greatest efficiency possible is, therefore, of vital interest 
to the whole country. 

For the above reasons and as a matter of great convenience to 
this Office in replying to constant demands for such information, 1 
recommend the printing of this statement. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOHN EATON, 

Commisi>io7icr. 
Hon. C. Delano, 

Secretary of the Infe?ior. 



Approved and publication ordered. 



B. R. COWEN, 

Acting Secretary. 



S T A T E M E N T 



THEORY OF EDUCATION 



THE UNITED STATES. 



A STATEMENT OF THE THEORY OF EDU- 
CATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA. 



I. 

The American school-system is an organic or historic growth, 
having its origin in attempts made to supply social and political needs. 

II. 

By the Constitution of the United States, no powers are vested in 
the central Government of the nation, unless the same relate immedi- 
ately to the support and defense of the whole people, to their inter- 
course with foreign powers, or to the subordination of the several 
States composing the Union. Military education for the Army and 
Navy only has been directly provided for by the national Govern- 
ment ; and the further action in aid of education has been limited to 
endowments in the form of land-grants to the several States, or por- 
tions thereof, for the purpose of providing a fund for the support of 
common schools or to found colleges for the promotion of scientific 
agriculture and the mechanic arts. Universities also have been en^ 
dowed by the United States Government in all the new States since 
the Northwest Territory was organized in 1787. Recently, (in 1867,) a 
Bureau of Education has been established at the seat of Government 
and a national Commissioner appointed, who collects statistics and 
disseminates valuable information relating to all educational subjects, 
To the several States individually is left, for the most part, the local 
administration of justice, as well as the establishment of public agen- 
cies for the well-being of the civil and social community in its indus- 
trial, economical, social, and spiritual aspects. 

III. 

The general form of the national Government is largely copied in 
the civil organization of the particular Stales, and no powers or func- 
tions of an administrative character are ordinarily exercised by the 
State as a whole which concern only the particular interests and well- 
being of the subordinate organizations or corporations into which 



10 

the State is divided for judicial and municipal purposes; but the 
State usually vests these local powers and functions in the corpora- 
tions themselves, such as counties, townships, and cities. The power 
of the State over these local corporations is complete; but they are 
generally allowed large legislative and administrative powers of a 
purely local character, while the State ordinarily confines its action 
and legislation to matters in which the people of the whole State are 
interested. 

IV. 

Citizenship in the nation is defined by Articles XIV and XV of 
Amendments to the Constitution, and is uniform, including every 
native and all naturalized persons. The right of^ voting and holding 
office is not inherent in citizenship, but is given to such as the States 
or the General Government determine, except that neither face nor 
color can be allowed as a test. Each State-constitution defines the 
qualifications necessary for the exercise of the political functions of 
holding ofiice in the civil government and electing the citizens who 
are to fill such offices. The State, in its entire existence, is a reflex 
of the people thus defined as its electors. In their hands collectively 
is vested the ultimate responsibility for all the power which is ex- 
pressed through the organism of the State, or, less directly, through 
the nation itself. Upon the several States individually, in which is 
vested the power of defining the qualifications of the electors who 
choose by ballot the representatives that make and execute the laws 
of the land, rests the responsibility of making provision for the edu- 
cation of those charged with the primary political functions. This 
responsibility has been generally recognized in the establishment, by 
legislative enactment, of a system of free common schools, supported 
in part by State-school-funds accumulated^ from national grants of 
lands and from appropriations made from the State-revenue, and in 
part by local taxation or assessment made upon those directly bene- 
fited by the schools themselves. The local direction and manage- 
ment of the schools are left to the municipalities or to the local cor- 
porate bodies organized for the special purpose, and a general super- 
vision is reserved to itself by the State. In some States, compulsory 
educational laws have been passed; not, however, requiring those 
who are taught in other ways to resort to the public schools. 

The State arranges the school-system and designates the various 
kinds of schools to be supported and managed by the public authori- 
ties and sometimes prescribes more or less of the branches of knowl- 
edge to be taught ; provides how districts may be created, divided, or 
consolidated with others and how moneys may be raised by or for 



11 

them ; prescribes their organization, officers and their powers, and 
the time and manner of filling and vacating offices and the functions 
of each officer; prescribes the school-age and conditions of attend- 
ance ; and provides in some cases for the investment and application 
of the school-funds derived from the General Government. The 
local municipalities organize school- districts under State-laws, elect 
school-officers, and levy and collect taxes for school-purposes. The 
local school-officers examine, appoint, and fix the salaries of teachers 
when not otherwise done, build school-houses, procure school-sup- 
plies, arrange courses of study, prescribe the rules and regulations 
for the government of the schools, and administer the schools. 



By the definitions before referred to, the privilege of political par- 
ticipation in choosing those who administer the government of the 
country is conferred upon the people at large, with certain general 
limitations as to sex and age and certain specific limitations regard- 
ing the naturalization of aliens (and, until recently, in some States, 
regarding race or color) or the possession of property or intelligence, 
&c. The general participation of all the people in the primary po- 
litical functions of election, together with the almost complete locali- 
zation of self-government by local administration, renders necessary 
the education of all, without distinction of sex, social rank, wealth, or 
natural abilities. This position is generally recognized in theory and 
practice. 

VI. 

In proportion to its degree of localization, the administration of 
the government becomes charged with the interests of civil society, 
and thus directly concerned in the creation and distribution of wealth 
and the personal well-being of the individual in the community. The 
national Government and the State-governments regard education 
as a proper subject for legislation, on the ground of the necessity of 
educated intelligence among a people that is to furnish law-abiding 
citizens, well versed in the laws they are to obey, and likewise law- 
making citizens, well versed in the social, historic, and political con- 
ditions which give occasion to new laws and shape their provisions. 
But the municipal or local corporations, in which are vested the direct 
control and management of educational institutions and the collec- 
tion and disbursement of the funds necessary for their support, regard 
■education in its social and economic aspects as well as in the more 
general one of its political function. Hence, all communities, in their 



12 

local capacity, exceed the limits prescribed by the State in their pro- 
visions for popular education, and they do this in the ratio of their 
grade of advancement in wealth and social culture. The productive 
industry of the community is known to have a direct relation to the 
diffusion of educated intelligence therein. 

VII. 

The idea of the state and the idea of civil society — the former the 
idea of the actualization of justice and the latter that of the supply 
of human wants and necessities through the creation and distribution 
of wealth — conspire, by general consent, in the production of the 
American system of pubhc education; and, to its maintenance and 
support, the property of the community is made to contribute by taxa- 
tion. Both the preservation of property by the actualization of 
justice and the increase of property by productive industry are 
direcdy conditioned, in a republic, upon the educated intelligence of 
the people. This is so, especially in that species of incorporeal prop- 
erty of the nature of franchises, such as constitute the basis of those 
corporate combinations formed for the promotion of manufactures and 
commerce, the creation of transit-facilities, and the diffusion of infor- 
mation, (patent-rights, charters for railroads, canals, telegraphs, banks 
of issue, insurance-companies, &:c.) These franchises, vested in 
corporations, incite to the production of wealth to an extraordinary 
degree, and at the same time make such a demand upon the com- 
munity for directive intelligence that it may be said that the modern 
industrial community cannot exist without free popular education 
carried out in a system of schools ascending from the primary grade 
to the university. And without a free development of productive 
industry, enabling the individual to accumulate the wealth necessary 
for the supply of the necessities of life faster than he consumes them, 
there is not left the leisure requisite to that cultivation of intelligence 
needed in the theoretical discussion and comprehension of public 
affairs; and without such occupation of the individual with public 
affairs, a democracy could exist only in name. 

VIII. 

The past and present history of the United States exhibits a process 
of development comprising three stages: 

((/) The settlement of new territory by pioneers and the reduction 
of the wilderness to an agricultural country. 



13 

(b) The rise of commercial towns and the creation of transit-faciU- 
ties in the new regions. 

(c) The development of manufacturing centers and the ascendency 
of domestic commerce. 

In consequence of this constant spectacle of the entire process of 
founding a civilization and developing it from the rudimentary stages 
up to the completed type, there is produced a peculiar phase of char- 
acter in the American people. There is always unlimited oppor- 
tunity for the individual to build anew his fortunes when disaster has 
overtaken him in one locality. 

As a consequence of the perpetual migration from the older sec- 
tions of the country to the unoccupied Territories, there are new 
States in all degrees of formation, and their institutions present ear- 
lier phases of realization of the distinctive type than are presented in 
the mature growth of the system as it exists in the thickly-settled and 
older States. Thus States are to be found with little or no provision 
for education, but they are rudimentary forms of the American State, 
and are adopting, as rapidly as immigration enables them to do so, 
the type of educational institutions already defined as the result of 
the American political and social ideas. 

IX. 

The education of the people in schools is a phase of education 
lying between the earliest period of family-nurture, which is still a 
concomitant and powerful auxiliary, on the one hand, and the neces- 
sary initiation into the .specialties of a vocation in practical life on 
the other. In America, the peculiarities of civil society and the 
political organization draw the child out of the influence of family- 
nurture earlier than is common in other countries. The frequent sep- 
aration of the younger branches of the family from the old stock 
renders family-influence less powerful in molding character. The 
consequence of this is the increased importance of the school in an 
ethical point of view. 

X. 

In order to compensate for lack of family-nurture, the school is 
obliged to lay more stress upon discipline and to make far more 
prominent the moral phase of education. It is obHged to train the 
pupil into habits of prompt obedience to his teachers and the prac- 
tice of self-control in its various forms, in order that he may be 
prepared for a life wherein there is little police-restraint on the part 
of the constituted authorities. 



14 

XL 

The school-discipline, in its phase of substitute for the family, uses 
corrective punishment, which presupposes a feeble development of the 
sense of honor in the child. It is mostly corporal punishment. But 
in the phase wherein the school performs the function of preparing 
the pupil for the formal government of the state, it uses rctrilmtive 
punishment and suspends the pupil from some or all the privileges 
of the school. In this phase of discipline, a sense of honor is 
presupposed and strengthened. 

XII. 

In commercial cities and towns, the tendency preponderates towards 
forms of punishment founded on the sense of honor and towards the 
entire disuse of corporal punishment. This object has been success- 
fully accomplished in New York, Chicago, Syracuse, and some other 
cities. In the schools of the country, where the agricultural interest 
prevails, the tendency to the family-form of government is marked. 

XIII. 

A further difference between the discipline of city-schools and that 
of country-schools is founded partly on the fact that the former 
schools are usually quite large, assembling from three hundred to fifteen 
hundred pupils in one building, while the latter have commonly less 
than fifty pupils. In the former, the large numbers admit of good 
classification ; in the latter, classes are quite small, sometimes con- 
taining only a single pupil, and the discipline of combination is con- 
sequently feebly developed. The commercial tone prevalent in the 
city tends to develop, in its schools, quick, alert habits and readiness 
to combine with others in their tasks. Military precision is required 
in the maneuvering of classes. Great stress is laid upon (i) punctu- 
ality, (2) regularity, (3) attention, and (4) silence, as habits necessary 
through life for successful combination with one's fellow-men in an 
industrial and commercial civilization. 

XIV. 

The course of study is laid down with a view to giving the pupil 
the readiest and most thorough practical command of those con- 
ventionalities of intelligence, those arts and acquirements which are 
the means of directive power and of further self-education. These 
preliminary educational accomplishments open at once to the mind 
of the pupil two opposite directions : {a) the immediate mastery over 



15 

the material world, for the purposes of obtaimng food, clothing, and 
shelter directly; {b) the initiation into the means of association with 
one's fellow-men, the world of humanity. 

XV. 

[a] The first theoretical study necessary for the mastery over the 
material world is arithmetic — the quantification of objects as regards 
numbers. 

In American schools, this is looked upon as of so much importance 
that more time is given to it than to any other study of the course. 
Its cultivation of the habit of attention and accuracy is especially 
valued. 

After arithmetic follows geography, in a parallel direction, looking 
towards natural history. Arithmetic is taught from the first entrance 
into school, while geography is begun as soon as the pupil can read 
well. 

XVI. 

{b) The first theoretical study necessary to facilitate combination 
of man with his fellow-men is reading the printed page. Accordingly, 
the prevailing custom in American schools is to place a book in the 
hands of the child when he first enters school and to begin his in- 
struction with teaching him how to read. As soon as he can read, 
he is able to begin to learn to study books for himself, and thus to 
acquire stores of knowledge by his own efforts. The art of writing is 
learned in connection with reading. This culture, in the direction of 
knowing the feelings, sentiments, and ideas of mankind, is continued 
throughout the course by a graded series of readers, containing selec- 
tions of the gems from the literature of the language, both prose and 
verse. This culture is re-enforced about the fifth year of the course 
by the study of English grammar, in which, under a thin veil, the 
pupil learns to discern the categories of the mind and to separate 
them analytically from modifying surroundings and define them. 
The common forms of thought and of its expression are thus mas- 
tered, and in this way the pupil is to some extent initiated into pure 
thought and acquires the ability to resolve problems of the material 
world and of his own life into their radical elements. The study of 
the history of the United States (and, in most instances, of the national 
Constitution) carries on this culture by the contemplation of the 
peculiarities of his nation as exhibited in its historic relations. 

XVII. 

The cardinal studies of the "common school" are: (i) reading 
and writing, (2) grammar, (3) arithmetic, (4) geography; the first two 



16 

look towcirds mastery over spiritual combination ; the latter two, over 
material combination. The common school aims to give the pupil 
the great arts of receiving and communicating intelligence. Draw- 
ing and vocal music are taught quite generally and the rudiments 
of natural science are taught orally in most city-schools. Declama- 
tion of oratorical selections is a favorite exercise and is supposed to 
fit the youth for pubHc and political life. Debating societies are 
formed for the same purpose. 

XVIII. 

The secondary education, carried on in "high schools," " acade- 
mies," and " seminaries," to the studies of the common school adds : 
(i) on the side of the theoretical command of material means : {a) 
algebra, geometry, calculus, and some forms of engineering, (surveying, 
navigation, &c.;) (d) natural philosophy or physics, (/. e., nature quan- 
titatively considered;) {c) physical geography or natural history, 
(nature organically considered.) (2) On the side of the humanities: 
(<'?) rhetoric, {/^) English literature, (c) Latin, (the basis of the En- 
glish vocabulary, as regards generalization and reflection as well as 
social refinement,) {(/) a modern language, commonly German or 
French, of which the latter serves the same general purpose as Latin 
in giving to English-speaking people a readier command, a more 
intuitive sense of the meaning of the vocabulary of words contributed 
by the Roman civilization to modern languages, and especially to 
the English, (whose vocabulary is chiefly Roman, though its gram- 
matical form is Gothic.) 

The high schools generally form a portion of the free public- 
school-system ; the academies and seminaries are generally founded 
and supported by private enterprise or religious zeal, and are not con- 
trolled or interfered with by the State, although many of them are 
chartered by it and are free from taxation. 

XIX. 

'I'he highest form of school-education is found in the colleges and 
universities scattered through the country, some under the control 
and support of the State, but far the larger number founded and sup- 
ported by religious denominations or private endowment and tuition- 
fees from the students. All, or nearly all, of them are chartered by 
the State, and their property is exempt from taxation. These insti- 
tutions support one or more of the following courses : 

(a) Academic course, generally of four years, a continuation of 



17 

the secondary education, as herein described, embracing a course in 
Latin and Greek, French and German, higher mathematics and some 
of their appHcations, the general technics of the natural sciences and 
also of the social and political sciences, belles-lettres and universal 
history, logic, metaphysics, and moral philosophy; {b) a scientific 
school; [c] a law-school; (d) a medical school; {e) a theological 
seminary ; (/) a normal school, (for the training of teachers ; this is 
seldom found except in State-universities, but is usually a sepa- 
rate institution, founded by the State or municipality.) 

The academic course is the college-course proper; when united 
to the others, it forms a " university." 

XX. 

The general system of instruction lays special emphasis on the use 
of text-books and the prevalent tendency is towards giving the pupil 
an initiation into the method of using the printed page in the form of 
books and periodicals for the purpose of obtaining information from 
the recorded experience of his fellow-men ; but in many schools and 
systems of schools equal or greater stress is laid upon the practical 
method of conducting investigations for the purpose of verification 
and of original discovery. 

XXI. 

In the Northern States, the colored population (being small in 
number) usually attends the same schools as the white population. 
In those States in which the colored people are very numerous, sepa- 
rate schools, with few exceptions, are established for them. 

XXII. 

In the country, girls and boys attend the same school ; in some of 
the older cities, the sexes are educated together in the primary schools, 
but separated in the grammar- and high schools. The course of study 
is generally the same for boys and girls. In cities of most recent 
growth, the co-education of the sexes prevails from the primary school 
up through the higher grades, and some colleges admit both sexes. 
There are, also, colleges established for the education of women 
alone. 

XXIII. 

Private schools, supported by individual enterprise or by corpora- 
tions and religious denominations, are numerous, and the course of 
study in them is nearly the same as in the public schools, except in 

2 



18 

laying more stress upon certain ornamental branches, such as vocal 
and instrumental music, French, drawing and painting, embroidery, &:c. 
These schools are more frequently for the separate education of 
the sexes and for secondary education. Very many academies and 
seminaries have been founded with a view to supplying the Chris- 
tian ministry with clergymen. There are some denominations more 
or less hostile to the public-school-system because of its secularity, 
and these favor a division of the school-funds so as to allow each 
denomination to carry on its own school-system. 

XXIV. 

Sectarian Instruction is not given in the pubhc 5K:hools. Religious, 
particularly sectarian, training is accomplished mainly in families and 
by the several denominations in their Sunday-schools or In special 
classes that recite their catechisms at stated Intervals during the 
week. It Is quite a common practice to open or close the public 
schools with Bible-reading and prayer. Singing of religious hymns 
by the entire school is still more common. 

XXV. 

Free evening-schools are common in cities, to provide means of 
improvement for adults and for youths who are prevented from 
attending the day-schools by reason of some useful employment. 
Special attention is given in them to reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
to certain industrial studies, such as book-keeping, line-drawing, &:c. 

XXVI. 

Schools- for unfortunates. Including reform-schools for vicious 
children, asylums for the blind, insane, deaf and dumb, idiots, and 
orphans, are usually established by the State-government directly, 
and less frequently by municipal corporations, and to some extent by 
rehgious denominations. In cities, truant-schools, established by 
the municipal authorities, are becoming common, and seem to be 
necessary where compulsory-attendance-laws exist. 

.XXVII. 

In the city-schools, female teachers largely preponderate, compos- 
ing frequently 90 per cent, of the entire corps of teachers. In coun- 
try-schools, the proportion is very much smaller, but has increased 
considerably in late years. The pupil, coming directly from home- 
influence, finds a less abrupt change upon entering the school under 



19 

the charge of a female teacher. The female character, being trained 
by experience in family-supervision to the administration of special 
details wherein division of labor cannot prevail to any great extent, 
is eminently fitted to control and manage the education of the child 
while it is in a state of transition from caprice to rationally-regulated 
exercise of the will; and the development of individuality is generally 
more harmonious up to a certain age if the pupil is placed under 
female teachers. The comparatively small cost of female-labor, also, 
largely determines its employment in all public schools. 

. XXVIII. 

The ratio of the entire population in school varies from i6 per cent, 
in some cities down to 5 per cent., or even 3 per cent., in some agri- 
cultural sections. City-schools generally hold their sessions daily — 
from 9 to 12 a. m. and from i to 4 p. m., with a recess of a quarter 
of an hour in each session — for five days in the week, and for about 
ten months in the year, two months or less being allowed for vaca- 
tions. In some cities, the plan of half-day-schools for young children 
has been tried and in many cities such children are not confined to 
the school-room more than four hours a day. The school-age of the 
pupil generally begins at 6 years and ends at 16, but in the cooler 
climates of the northern sections it begins earlier and lasts longer; 
the school-sessions are usually longer in the colder climates. 

XXIX. 

The salaries paid teachers indicate somewhat the estimate placed 
upon their work by the public. For some years there has been a 
steady increase in salaries. Better qualifications have* been brought 
to the work, and teaching, particularly in cities, has become a regular 
occupation. Teachers mingle freely in the best social circles and 
enjoy the respect of the community. 

XXX. 

Educational journals are published in nearly every State. These 
journals are sometimes pubHshed by the State-superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction, sometimes by committees appointed by State-associa- 
tions of teachers, and more frequently by individuals. In addition 
to these periodicals, there are many local educational papers issued 
by city- or county-teachers' associations, and some of the secular pa- 
pers have educational departments. The State and city educational 
reports take rank among the ablest of our public documents. 



20 

SIGNATURES. 

The foregoing statement is approved by the following gentlemen : 

Hon. J. V. Campbell, Chief justice of Michigan. 

Hon. C. I. Walker, Law -department of the Michigan University. 

Hon. D. B. Briggs, State-stiperijitendent^ Lansing, Michigan. 

Henry Chaney, Superintendent of the Detroit Public Library. 

I. M. Wellington, Principal of the High School, Detroit. 

J. B. Angell, President of the Michigan University. 

Prof. J. H. TwoMBLY, President of the Wisconsiti University. 

Asa D. Smith, President of Dartmouth College. 

M. Hopkins, President of Williams College. 

J. L. Chamberlain, President of Bowdoin College. 

S. G. Brown, President of Hamilton College. 

W. A. Stearns, President of Amherst College. 

Joseph Cummings, President of the Wesleyan University. 

H. 1). Kitchell, President of Middlebury College. 

Alexis Caswell, President of Bronni University. 

A. D. White, President of Cornell University. 

W\ H. Campbell, President of Rutgers College. 

Abner Jackson, President of Trinity College. 

J. C. Burroughs, President of Chicago University. 

J. M. Gregory, President of the Illinois Industrial University. 

Hon. Warrex Johnson, State-superintendent of the common schools, 
Augusta, Maine. 

Hon. J. H. French, Secretary of the board of education, Burling- 
ton, Vermont. 

Hon. Joseph White, Secretary of the State-board of education, 
Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hon. B. G. Northrop, Secretary of the- State-board of education, 
Neiv Haven, Connecticut. 

Hon. A. B. Weaver, State-superintendent of public instruction, Al- 
bany, New York. 

Hon. E. A. Apgar, State-superintendent of public instruction, Tren- 
ton, New Jersey. 

Hon. J. P. Wickersham, State-superintendent of public instruction, 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Thomas W. Harvey, State-commissioner of common schools, 
Cohunbus, Ohio. 

Hon. A. C. Shortridge, Superintejulent of city -schools, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 



21 

Hon. William Kempt, Troy, New York. 

Hon. A. P. Marble, Superintendent of city -schools, Worcester, 
Jlassachnsetts. 

Hon. E. B. Hale, Superintendent of city-scJiools, Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts. 

Hon. S. C. HosFORD, Superintendent of city-schools, Paterson, 
New yersey. 

Hon. G. E. Hood, Superintendent of city-schools, Laiurence, Massa- 
chusetts. 

Alexander WiNCHELL,/>r^/V/67//<?/'6)'-rt2rt7/j(? University, N'eiv York. 

J. T. Champlin, President of Olivet College, Michigan. 

Daniel Read, President of the University of Missouri, Columbia, 
Missouri. 

General A. S. Webb, President of the College of the City of New York, 
■ New York. 

F. A. P. Barnard, President of Columbia College, New York, 
New York. 

M. B. .Vnderson, President cf Rochester University, Rochester, 
New York. 

E. N. Potter, President of Union College, Schenectady, New York. 

S. 'iio\WAYLT), President of the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. 

E. T. Tappan, President of Kenyon College, Gambler, Ohio. 

O. N. mx^KTsno^^, President of Mount Union College, Ohio. 

J. H. Fairchild, President of Oberlin College, Ohio. 

J. C. Welling, President of the Columbia College, JVashi/igton, 
District of Columbia. 

J. H. Raymond, President of Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, Ne-za 
York. 

Hon. M. B. Hopkins, State-superintendent of public instruction, 
I/idianapolis, Indiana. 

Hon. Samuel Fallows, State-superinteiulent of public instruction, 
Madison, JVisconsin. 

Hon. x\lonzo Abernethy, State-superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, Des Moines, Iowa. 

Hon. John Monteith, State-superintende/it of public schools, Jef- 
ferson City, Missouri. 

Hon. Newton Bateman, State-superintendent of public instruction, 
Springfield, Illinois. 

Hon. H. D. McCarty, State-superintendent of public instruction, 
Leavenworth, Kansas. 

Hon. H. B. Wilson, State-superinteiulent of public instruction, Saint 
Paul, Minnesota. 



22 

Hon. M. A. Newell, Principal of the State Normal School, Balti- 
more, Maryland. 

Hon. E. E. \Nb.\tk, Editor of the National Teacher, Columbus, Ohio.- 

Hon. John D. Philbrick, Superinte?ident of city-schools, Boston, 
Massachusetts. < 

Hon. W. T. Yi.\v.v.\s>, Superintendent of city-scJiools, Saiut Louis, Mis- 
souri. 

Hon. Henry Kiddle, Superintendent of city-schools. New York^ 
New York. 

Hon. J. ^^^ '^\2\.yaj^x. Superintendent of dty-schools, Brooklyn, New 
York. 

Hon. George B. Sears, Superintendent of city-schools, Newark^ 
N'e'iu Jersey. 

Hon. J. L. PiCKARD, Superintendent of city-schools, Chicago, Illinois. 

Hon. Willl^m R. Creery, Superintendent of city-schools, BaltimorCy 
Maryland. 

Hon. John Hancock, Superintendent of city ^schools, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Hon. A. J. 'KiC'^OYY, Superintende?it of city-schools, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Hon. Duane Doty, Superintendent of city-schools, Detroit, Michigan, 

Prof. Stephenson, Superintendent of city -schools, Buffalo, New York. 

Hon. Edward Smith, Superintendent of city-schools, Syi'acuse, New 
York. 

Hon. S. A. Ellis, Superinte/ident of city -schools, Rochester, New 
York. 

Hon. D. F. De AA'olf, Superintendent of city-schools, Toledo, Ohio, 

Hon. J. O. AViLSON, Superintendent of city-schools, Washington, Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

Hon. George H. Tingley, Superintendejit of city-schools, Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. 

Hon. George J. Luckey, Superintendent of city-schools, Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania. * 

Hon. William L. Dickinson, Superintendent of city-schools, Jersey 
City, New Jersey. 

Hon. F. C. Law, Superintende?it of city-schools, Milwauke Wis- 
consin. 

Hon. Daniel Leach, Superintendent of city-schools. Providence^ 
Rhode Island. 

Hon. Ariel Parish, Superintendent of city -schools. New Haven ^ 
Connecticut. 



|^^o_ 



A STATEMENT 



Theory of Education 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



AS APPROVED BY 



MANY LEADING EDUCATORS. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1874. 




























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